


The Spice of Life

by WritingDaydreams



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, How Do I Tag, Identity Reveal, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Finds Out First, Poor Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, no literally, there are herbs and spices, things may get spicy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-15 18:53:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29688402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingDaydreams/pseuds/WritingDaydreams
Summary: Who knew that offering Adrien Agreste a bite of her lunch would lead one Marinette Dupain-Cheng into a series of events that would change her life forever.Or the spice fic that nobody really asked for. Or maybe they did?
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe
Comments: 29
Kudos: 228





	The Spice of Life

**Author's Note:**

> This story came into being because of a wild conversation that was held on The Miraculous Fanworks Discord Server involving the topic of spice tolerance (or a lack thereof) some members have. It then snowballed from there, and I wound up volunteering to make this one-shot happen.
> 
> Special thanks to Taylor for being an absolute ROCKSTAR of a Beta Reader!

“Wow, your lunch looks really good, Marinette,” Adrien said as he sat down at their usual lunch table. He had a garden salad with what looked like bland grilled chicken topped with oil and vinegar in his hands, but his eyes looked like they could devour the dark-haired girl’s lunch all on their own.

“O-oh,” Marinette stammered, clearly a little flustered, though the blond didn’t know why. “Y-you thank… I mean, thank you, Adrien. It’s just some chicken and penne arrabbiata,” she explained shyly, her cheeks taking on a rosy hue. “Would you like to try some?”

“May I?” The blond asked eagerly, his green eyes widening at his good friend’s generosity. He was never allowed to try other people's dishes, as he was told that it was impolite to ask, and with his strict diet due to modeling, this kind of thing was nearly always verboten.

“Of course!” The designer exclaimed, already stabbing her unused fork into a plump piece of the poultry that was covered in the red sauce, making sure to spear a few penne noodles to go along with it. “I’m always happy to share!”

She had an extra fork in her lunch bag, so she wasn’t too put out about not using the utensil that she now offered to the object of her affections.

Adrien took the fork into his hand carefully so as not to drop it. “Thank you, Marinette,” he gratefully smiled before he took the bite of food into his mouth. 

Moments after the morsel passed between the model’s perfect peach-colored lips, his eyes began to tear up. His complexion began to slowly turn the color of the chili peppers that were probably hidden within the spicy sauce, causing his dark-haired friend to frown in worry.

“Adrien? Are you okay?”

He wasn’t okay, but he couldn’t tell her that. His tongue felt like it had been set on fire, and he’d begun to have trouble breathing because of it.

“Hey Dude, what’s fo-“ Nino cut himself off as he and Alya began to sit down at the table, noticing the anguished look on the blond’s face. “What the hell happened here?” He asked, turning to the only person who might have an answer.

“I don’t know,” the designer responded with a puzzled shrug. “I offered him a bite of my lunch to try, and this happened.”

“What kind of lunch do you have today?” Asked the Ladyblogger, going into full investigative mode to get down to the bottom of things

Fiddling with her fork, Marinette answered, “Chicken and penne arrabbiata.”

Nino just stared at her with his mouth agape for a moment before he took off his glasses and gave himself a facepalm. 

A minute later, he pulled out his water bottle and handed it to his best friend, who took it gratefully with his tears now streaming freely down his reddened cheeks.

The auburn-haired girl blinked at her best friend for a moment before she carefully asked, “... did you warn him about the spice?”

The dark-haired girl’s mouth dropped open in the cutest little “O” that Adrien would have seen if he wasn’t so busy guzzling down Nino’s water, then reaching for his own when he was finished, having forgotten about it earlier.

“I forgot,” the designer admitted meekly.

“Marinette, sweetie,” the blogger began in a saccharine voice, patting her best friend’s hand. “Not all of us have your tolerance for handling spicy food.”

“That is all well and good,” the DJ chimed in dryly, interrupting the girl's conversation. “But my bro looks like he’s dying over here!”

Eyeing the blond, Alya asked her boyfriend, “Did he drink all of your water?”

“All of mine, and all of his too, once he found it.”

“I’ll go get him some milk,” Marinette volunteered as she handed over her unopened water bottle as well, standing up half-hazardly from the table. “There’s nothing better than dairy to put out a mouth on fire,” she explained with a strained chuckle before turning quickly towards the lunch line to get the cooling beverage, missing the fond look that the model had given her through his glassy green eyes.

“Oh Tikki, I really screwed things up,” the young Guardian muttered under her breath with tears in her eyes, her voice loud enough for only her kwami to hear. “What if this is it? What if this is the reason that Adrien realizes that he no longer wants to be friends with me? That he despises me? Then I’ll have to move out of the country and change my name and-“

“Now isn’t the time to worry about that, Marinette,” Tikki gently scolded her charge from her purse, bringing the distraught girl out of her catastrophizing thoughts. “You need to get Adrien some milk to help him now.”

“Right,” agreed the dark-haired girl as she shook her head to dispel the rest of her thoughts on the subject, concentrating on the kwami’s words. “Let’s… let’s go do that.”

“I’m back,” she announced breathlessly moments later, returning to the table armed with three cartons of milk, and 4 bottles of water, just in case. She immediately handed the blond one of the cartons and a bottle of water, watching as he made quick work of drinking them.

“Thanks, Marinette,” he gasped out after chugging down the last of the milk. He gave her another fond look as he opened the water before following up with, “You’re a lifesaver.”

Marinette’s face filled with puzzlement before distress took over. “How can you say that?” She asked, shaking her head as tears began to prick at her ocean-colored eyes. “I was the one who caused this mess in the first place!”

A large hand came to rest on her smaller one, quieting her hysteria slightly. “But you were the one who thought of the milk,” Adrien pointed out quietly, his voice sounding a little hoarse from the fire that previously resided in his throat. His eyes were rimmed with red from crying earlier, and his face still looked a little red from the heat of the capsaicin he had ingested. “I guess I’m just not used to spicy food,” he reasoned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

“I’m the one that didn't warn you,” the dark-haired girl chided, blushing furiously as she pushed another carton of milk his way. 

“Okay, that’s enough of that now,” Alya piped in, popping the bubble that the pair before her didn’t realize that they were in. “No more taking the blame for either one of you. You,” she began, pointing a finger towards the blond. “Drink up more of that milk, it’ll help you feel better so that you can at least _taste_ your lunch… however bland that looks,” she said derisively, turning up her nose at the rubbery-looking chicken on its bed of romaine lettuce sitting in front of him. “I don't even know how you can eat that. And you,” she then turned towards her best friend and said, “Stop blaming yourself for things that you didn’t even know would happen.”

The two looked at each other before simultaneously rolling their eyes. “Yes mom,” they chorused in perfect unison.

Handing Nino a water to replace the one he sacrificed earlier, Marinette then asked, “So did you guys get the lesson that Ms. Bustier was trying to teach us earlier?”

The conversation continued for a few minutes longer before screams could be heard across the courtyard.

“Akuma!” Alya exclaimed excitedly, getting up from her seat in a rush with her phone in hand already set to camera mode. 

“Akuma,” groaned Nino as he pulled his cap down over his eyes for a moment before getting up to follow after his girlfriend to make sure that she stayed out of trouble.

Marinette and Adrien shared a glance before they also got up out of their seats. “We better split up and find someplace to hide,” the dark-haired suggested, giving the blond a hand to help him up.

“Sounds like a good plan, stay safe,” he agreed with a nod, not noticing the small bundle of green leaves his friend stuffed into her mouth before they left the cafeteria.

“You too,” she replied with her mouth full of the sweet-tasting leaves, parting ways as soon as they got out of the door.

“Another day, another akuma,” Plagg snarked in his nasal voice as soon as Adrien entered the empty boys bathroom. “I’m just glad that you didn’t eat any of my Camembert when you had that spicy food earlier.”

“Hardy-har-har,” Adrien quipped sarcastically with an eye roll. “As if I would ever eat your disgusting cheese.”

The cat-like being just shrugged and remarked, “Whatever, your loss.”

“Let’s just see if we have enough _thyme_ to get back and finish lunch,” the model punned with a grin, causing his Kwami to groan. “Plagg, claws out!”

“I don’t get enough cheese for this!” The little black embodiment of destruction exclaimed as he was sucked into his Holder’s Miraculous, turning the inconspicuous silver ring into a black band with an electric green paw print.

Meanwhile, in the empty girls bathroom down the hall…

“Another day, another akuma,” Marinette sighed shortly after she swallowed the food in her mouth.

“I know this is tiresome, Marinette, but we really have to to take care of this,” the little red embodiment of creation pointed out as she floated out of her hiding place in her Holder’s purse.

“I know, Tikki. I just wish that Hawkmoth would let me finish my lunch first,” the designer explained with a rueful smile. “Are you ready?” She asked her kwami.

“Just say the words!”

“Tikki, spots on!”

Ladybug landed on the roof of the school, noticing her partner was watching an akuma with a rather peculiar-looking sentimonster (is that a Capishum?) wreaking havoc in the courtyard, their victims either on their hands and knees gasping for breath or fighting with one another.

“ _The Lego Ninjago Movie_ was so much better than the TV series!” A student yelled out at his friend as he grappled with him.

“Are you crazy?” the friend yelled back, trying to put his friend in a choke hold. “The TV series was _way_ better!”

“Greetings, M’Lady,” Chat said in his charismatic way once he spotted his partner. “And how are you on this _feline_ day?”

“It is _way_ too early in the day for your puns, silly kitty,” the spotted hero chided, rolling her eyes as she crouched down next to him, ready to get down to business. “What's the situation like, Chat Noir?”

“The Capishum...ish sentimonster spews out red clouds that causes that… whatever that is,” the feline-themed hero answered, taking on a more serious voice as he pointed out someone who was on their hands and knees, faces red and clutching at their throats. “The akuma was arguing with a classmate about something that sounded trivial, from my best guess.”

“I thought that was what it looked like,” she murmured, her eyes narrowed as she scoped out the chaos before her, searching the akuma for possible objects. “Any ideas on where the butterfly and feather are?”

“If I have to guess, I’m thinking it's one on each armband,” Chat mused as his cat-like green eyes also narrowed in speculation at the athletic looking akuma. 

Ladybug nodded and made a small noise in agreement.

“They didn't believe me when I argued that some people had a low tolerance for spicy food!” The akuma said, beginning its monologue. “Now they have no choice but to argue amongst themselves, or feel the pain from Tabasco!”

“Is this guy serious? Did Hawkmoth really name this one after a _hot sauce_?!” The young guardian exclaimed quietly in disbelief.

“Hehe… yeah… he did...,” her partner hesitated as he cautiously scratched at the back of his neck, cursing his father for sheltering him so much that he didn’t even know what tabasco sauce _was._

“Let’s be careful,” the spotted hero advised. She had noted that most of the people arguing with one another seemed to be couples, as she had spotted Juleka and Rose bickering at one another, though others seemed to be just close friends. “This one is giving me Dark Cupid vibes, and we aren’t sure just how dangerous the sentimonster is.”

“Got it, Bugaboo,” the black-clad hero winked before leaping down into the courtyard.

“Stop calling me Bugaboo!”

“What’s this? Has the mangy flea-bag come out to play?” The akuma jeered with an ugly sneer across his face.

“Who are you _cat-calling_ mangey, you fashion disaster,” Chat Noir taunted as he feinted left before dodging right, using his staff as an extension of himself as he had been taught during his fencing classes.

“Just hand over your Miraculouses so that we can get this over with,” Tabasco whined, pulling his arm back to throw a useless punch at the cat-themed hero.

Chat just grinned as he dodged once again. “Think again, fire-breath. Hawkie doesn't get that variety is the spice of life and that he should try something other than attempting to steal our jewelry sometime.” He feinted once more before knocking the akuma on the head with the butt of his staff. “Like knitting.”

“Lucky Charm!” Ladybug cried out from nearby, throwing her yo-yo into the air.

The magic soon coalesced, solidifying itself into an object that dropped heavily in her hands.

“A carton of milk?” She asked, her blue eyes wide with confusion as she stared at the quarter gallon container incredulously. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

It wasn't long before her question was answered as her partner came face to face with the sentimonster as it began to spew out its noxious red clouds.

“AAAAHHHH!” The cat-themed hero cried out in pain as he fell to the ground, covering his face as he began to cough violently. “IT BURNS!”

“CHAT!” The spotted hero yelled as she ran over to him, her luckyvision showing her the answer that eluded her moments before.

She quickly opened the container before thrusting the lucky charm into his hand, demanding that he drink from it.

He looked up at her then and his red face and tear-filled eyes reminded her of another green-eyed boy who had had a similar reaction to spicy food not that long ago.

And once she saw it, she couldn't get her brain to stop riding that train of thought.

_Adrien?_

His reddened eyes went wide in shock, telling her that she spoke that thought out loud.

Unfortunately for the heroic duo, the akuma decided to use this moment of distraction to begin his assault.

“Ladybug! Look out!” Alya screamed from her hiding place, but the heroes were just a little too slow.

A beam of dark magic hit the spotted hero in the clavicle like a bullet, forcing her back and away from her partner. Her wince from pain soon became a sneer as her lips turned from pale pink to black, the only sign that she was under the akuma’s control. 

Chat Noir looked on in horror, gasping as he witnessed her slight transformation.

First the girl of his dreams figured out his identity, then she gets hit by an akuma?! This was one of their worst nightmares come to life before his eyes!

Tabasco began to laugh maniacally, clearly pleased that he was the one to finally get one over on the luck-based hero. “That's it, Ladybug! Bring me that mangy cat’s ring, then hand over your earrings!”

Blue eyes flashed darkly as the dark-haired hero caught sight of her partner, giving him a look of disgust and hatred and everything that he knew she was not. With another black-lipped sneer, she began to call him in a mocking tone of voice, “Here kitty, kitty, kitty.”

The black-clad hero shook his head, more to clear his thoughts than to deny her anything, when he remembered an off-hand comment she had said at the start of the fight.

_This one is giving me Dark Cupid vibes…_

Dark Cupid… she had mentioned Dark Cupid….

What had happened with Dark Cupid again?

Hazy memories of that akuma floated through Chat Noir’s mind before an ill-fated interview from a long while ago (and before yet _another_ akuma fight) popped into his head, and with it, the lightbulb in his head turned on.

She had to kiss him in order to save him.

His throat was still on fire when he made this realization, so when he inhaled sharply at his revelation, he was reminded of the lucky charm held in his claws.

He downed the drink quickly, tossing the container to the side to be found later. Getting to his feet, the cat-themed hero started to stalk towards his spotted counterpart. “Come and _cat_ -ch me, Bugaboo. I will be more than happy to put a ring on your finger, just not my Miraculous!” He called out to her, green feline eyes dancing in mischief.

“Stop calling me Bugaboo!” She yelled once again, launching herself at her partner.

He caught her deftly, then hurried them both away to a more… secluded area. He didn't want to have what he had to do plastered all over the internet... again. 

“Let go of me,” Ladybug growled out, trying to break out of the feline hero’s hold.

“What’s wrong, M’Lady?” Chat asked in a teasing tone when he finally set her down, trapping her against a nearby wall so that she couldn't run away. “You wanted me to come to you like a good kitty earlier, and now you want to run away?”

She bared her teeth at him then, making him laugh at how cute she was when she was angry.

“I know that the akuma’s influence on you makes you want to argue with me, Bugaboo,” he said through his chuckles, bringing a claw-tipped hand up to cup her jaw in a gentle but firm hold. “But I don't want to fight you, and I really wish that I was doing this under different circumstances.”

“What are you talking about you mangy c-“

He cut her off just then, firmly pressing his lips to her in what was the first kiss that the black-clad hero could finally remember.

_‘She tastes so sweet… in a spicy kind of way’_ , was his only thought as he tilted his head to deepen the kiss, feeling her breath sigh out of her as Ladybug responded in kind. It was then that he knew that his partner was no longer under the influence of the akuma, and that he should probably stop kissing her.

But he really, _really_ didn't want to.

They eventually had to pull back to breathe, pressing against each other’s foreheads as they did. When Chat opened his eyes, he noticed that she still had hers closed, looking as if she were either getting her bearings or savoring the moment.

“What...what happened?” Ladybug asked in a breathless voice as she slowly opened her bluebell eyes.

So it was the former.

The cat-themed hero gulped, trying to swallow around the lump that suddenly appeared in his throat. “You were right about the akuma being like Dark Cupid,” he said in a hoarse voice, trying not to let tears make another appearance in this fight.

She blinked up at him, confusion swirling in the ocean-colored depths for a moment before it all came back to her. “You…. alright, it's alright,” she said as she scrunched her eyes closed, trying to calm her frantic heartbeat and concentrate on what to do next. 

Her earrings beeped, startling her slightly out of her thoughts.

“You still have 3 spots,” he said demurely, his tone making her look him over closely. She noticed that his eyes looked a little sad, even though he had a gentle smile on his face. “Go and recharge. I’ll go distract them.”

As the cat-like hero turned to go, Ladybug grabbed his wrist to make him pause. “We will talk later… after…,” she said, stumbling a little over her words.

Chat smiled down at her, pushing a stray lock of her midnight hair behind her ear. “We will,” he promised quietly as took her hand from his wrist with his free hand and placed a kiss to her knuckles before bounding off.

She stared after him for a moment before she whispered the words to undo her transformation. 

Tikki flew out of the earrings quietly, keeping silent as she took the macaron from Marinette, who was still looking at the spot where her partner stood. When the kwami had eaten half of the sweet, she asked her Holder, “So, you’ve figured out Chat’s identity then?”

“Uh-huh,” the dark-haired girl said numbly, her mind seeming to be a million miles away, thinking back on the remnants of the kiss they had shared.

The Ladybug kwami nodded, taking another few bites before she inquired, ”So, what are you going to do now?”

This brought the teen back to the present, the question seeming to echo through her consciousness. She frowned for a moment before answering, “I know what I’m _not_ going to do. I am NOT going to take his ring from him!”

“Good,” Tikki said matter-of-factly, causing the young Guardian to gape at her. “You should know who Plagg’s holder is by now. You are the Guardian now, Marinette. You needed to know this information.”

“I’m just… a little in shock, I guess,” she said in introspection before a large crash rang out. She shot a glance towards the direction that it came in and checked, “Are you ready yet, Tikki? I shouldn’t leave him out there all by himself.”

“I am!” The little red embodiment of creation chirped, swallowing the last of her macaron. “Just say the words!”

“Tikki, spots on!”

It didn’t take the heroes long after that to defeat both the akuma and the sentimonster without any more pratfalls, and with a cry of “Miraculous Ladybug!”, the damage was put to right.

A few moments later, the two superheroes were sitting on their favorite rooftop with a perfect view of the Eiffel Tower. 

They were quiet for the moment, but they knew that they couldn’t stay there for long. The rest of their classes were cancelled for the day, but their friends would be looking for them soon.

Chat sighed as he took in the view, a wistful look in his eye as he fiddled with his ring. “I guess you’ll have to take my Miraculous back, won’t you?” He asked quietly, breaking the silence between them.

“Nope.” 

Cat-eyes widening in shock, he turned to give her an incredulous look. “What? Don’t you have to take it back now that you know my identity?”

“Nope.”

“No?!” He exclaimed, gaping at the bombshell she laid upon him.

“No,” she affirmed, this time shaking her head with a smile etched across her face. “I’m the Guardian now, as Tikki had reminded me earlier. I can change the rules a bit if I want to, and as Guardian, I should know where the Black Cat Miraculous is in case of emergencies.” 

Then her smile turned rueful as she had remembered the last time that he had tried to give back his ring. “Besides, like I said in New York: I can’t do this without you,” she said looking up at him through her long inky lashes with one last slight shake of her head. “The only reason I’m the Ladybug I am today is because you’re my Chat Noir.”

He stared at her in awe for what felt like an insurmountable amount of time (but was really just a few moments) until a smile grew on his face. “Well, now that you know who I am… does that mean that I finally get to know who you are, M’Lady?”

Ladybug blinked at that question. She was totally not prepared for it, though she should have been. 

She knew that Chat had always wanted to know who she was underneath the mask.

But she hadn’t even had a proper freak out about how the love of her life and her punderful partner were the same person yet!

“I… I’m not quite ready to just come out and say who I am underneath all of… this,” the dark-haired girl said as she made a vague gesture towards her spotted suit. She spied the slightly disappointed look starting to creep across his face and knew that she had to do something about it before the emotion took too deep of a hold. There was no way that she was going to leave her kitty out of the loop again. “But I’ll tell you what, Kitty. I give you my permission to figure out who I am.” 

Feline ears perked up as his slitted irises dilated, the black-clad hero’s face was now filled with elation. “Do you really mean that, Bugaboo?” He asked, unable to keep his excitement out of his voice.

“Mmhmm,” she hummed, trying to smother a satisfied grin. “I’ll even give you a few hints if you’d like?”

With eyes the size of dinner plates, Chat started on his impression of one of those plastic bobble-head dolls that he thought were so _hiss_ -terical as he sang out, “Yes please!”

Ladybug couldn't hold back her giggle, the sound of it the most beautiful noise that the cat-themed hero had ever heard.

He really couldn't wait to find out who the girl under the mask was at long last, though he did have some suspicions that he had had to bury deep down in the past.

A very strong one…

“Okay,” the spotted hero began, throwing her counterpart off of his train of thought. She placed a crooked finger against her chin as a thoughtful expression slowly overcame her face. “So your first clues are….” 

She didn't want to make this too easy after all.

“I like a variety of food, but there is one flavor that I favor more than others. In fact, I ate some of it right before the akuma attack.”

“Then may I _pepper_ in that I’m crazy about you?” the feline-themed hero cut in, a bit anxious to begin on his search.

The dark-haired hero glared at him before rolling her eyes playfully, the knowledge of who was underneath his mask only endearing her to him more. “I’m an aspiring fashion designer.”

“Well, you are this _Chat’s meow,_ ” he quipped, earning a bop on the head with her yo-yo.

He hadn’t even noticed her taking it off of her hip.

“And finally,” she said as she threw out her weapon, ready to use it as a grappling hook. “I’m also closer than you think.”

“Really?” He said, his feline eyes wide with surprise and glee. "Then may I say, it's about _thyme_ we found out who the other is, don't you think so, M'Lady?"

“You're lucky that I like you, Chaton,” she said, shaking her head as she tugged on her yo-yo string, swinging off in the direction of her home.

“And I can't _curry_ on without letting you know how much I love you," he said to himself, pulling out his baton to start his own journey home.

* * *

“Dude, what are we doing?” Nino asked as he followed his best friend into his massive bedroom the next day after school, pausing to leave his school bag near the blond’s desk. 

“I’m trying to find a particular flavor that I’ve recently tried, and liked, but I don't know what it was,” Adrien answered him as he wandered over towards his sofa to see if Nathalie had granted his request.

“And you need my help because...?”

“Because I don't know what all of these are,” Adrien said as he gestured to the large spread of different herbs and spices littering his coffee table.

“Damn, Dude,” the cap-wearing teen said whistling under his breath, gaping in awe at the many pots of greenery and bowls filled with dried spices. “Bro, this is _so_ not my territory.”

“I need help, Nino,” the model turned to his DJ friend, breaking out the kitten eyes as a last resort. “Please?”

Very much immune to his best friend's tactics, Nino shook his head and held up his hands as he said, “You’re better off calling in either Alya or Marinette for this! I don't have a clue what half of these things are!”

Adrien ran his hands through his blond locks, messing them up a little as he tugged on the golden strands in frustration. He let go of his hair with a sigh and asked resolutely, “Can you call them to come over? I feel a little embarrassed.”

The bespectacled teen looked over to the blond with a puzzled expression, asking ”Why, dude?”

“I just am,” came the sulky sounding answer.

“Fine,” the DJ said, rolling his eyes as he pulled out his phone and pressed his favorite contact on the device.

“Hey Babe, are you with Marinette?” Nino asked into the phone a few moments later. “You are? Great! Can the two of you come over to Adrien’s? Sunshine boy has a dilemma and you two are better equipped to handle it than I am.”

A few more moments passed before he spoke again, his cheeks reddening slightly, “What? No! It's not about girl stuff! Just… please come over?”

Adrien snickered as soon as he heard that, earning a glare and a rather rude hand gesture from his best friend.

“Thanks babe, see you soon,” Nino said into the microphone, a small lovesick grin plastered on his face. “Love you!”

He ended the call less than a moment later, composing himself as he said, “They’ll be over in just a few minutes, Dude.”

“Thanks, man,” the blond said with a smirk, earning yet another glare from his DJ friend. “Really, I mean it.”

* * *

“So, why are we going to Adrien’s again?” Marinette asked as she and Alya made their way towards the Agreste Mansion. “Not that I don't mind, but I’m a little curious. And maybe a little nervous, too.”

“Chill, girl,” the blogger said, stretching her arms overhead while enjoying the calm spring breeze as they walked towards their destination. “To be honest, I have no clue. All that I’d gotten was something of an SOS from Nino.”

“Well, that sounds ominous,” the dark-haired girl muttered, causing her best friend to burst out laughing. She glared at the bespectacled girl for a moment before shaking her head and taking the lead. 

“You need to relax, M,” Alya said once her laughter calmed down, wiping a stray tear from her eye as she caught up to the designer. “You’ve been doing so well talking to Sunshine lately. You even offered him a bite of your lunch yesterday.”

“How can I forget,” she groaned, embarrassment seeming to ooze out of her pores as she covered her face with her hands, causing the auburn-haired girl to snicker. “And look at what happened! You know how I get around him, Alya.”

“So you had a misstep,” the junior journalist said with a shrug. “Those are bound to happen.”

“It just seems to happen to me a lot,” the young Guardian grumbled as her best friend took out her phone to text the boys that they had arrived at the mansion's gates.

The massive iron entryway groaned as it swung open just enough for the girls to slip through, Adrien’s bodyguard meeting them with the door open at the top of the stairs. The large man gestured in the direction of the blond’s bedroom before he once again took up his post standing guard at the massive wooden doors.

The girls looked at one another with a shrug before moving towards the imposing staircase. 

“I wonder how Adrien does this…,” Marinette said quietly, hoping that the large rooms acoustics wouldn’t pick up on her voice.

“Does what?”

“Live like this,” she gestured minutely to the very spacious foyer. “It’s no wonder he prefers coming over to one of our places to hang out. He’s such a warm person, but this place is just… it feels….”

“Cold?” The blogger ventured to guess.

“Cold,” she agreed.

“Then we do our best to help Sunshine keep that warmth,” Alya said with a shrug, placing a comforting hand on the dark-haired girl's shoulders. “We continue to be there for when he needs us, through the good and the bad.”

The designer bit her lip as she nodded, a determined look beginning to form on her face. “You’re right, Alya! Adrien is our friend, and we will always be there for him, whenever we can!

“Atta girl,” the bespectacled girl said as she knocked on the door to the model’s bedroom. “If that's what it takes for you to talk normal around him, then let's do this!”

She turned the knob and opened the door once she heard someone call out for them to come in. 

And the smile that had formed on Marinette’s face a moment ago vanished into a look of horror as she took in the scene before her.

“Don't eat that!” She called out as she rushed into the room, placing a hand on the blond’s to stop him from consuming the object in his hand.

“Why not?” The model asked in a confused voice, looking a little surprised at his friend's outburst.

It registered belatedly in the designer’s brain that she was still holding onto his hand, and was quite close. She let go of the limb suddenly, taking a few steps back as she did

“Because that's nutmeg, and should be used in moderation. Eating too much, like that whole seed in your hand?” she explained carefully, pointing to the object in his hand that was no larger than a robin’s egg. “Yeah, that could poison you.”

“Okay,” the DJ drawled out as he lowered the blond’s hand from his face, making him drop the nutmeg seed back into the bowl he took it from. “And this is why we needed the girls for this,” he said pointedly, giving his best friend a glare.

“How could something so small kill me?” The blond asked with a genuinely puzzled look on his face.

“One word. Cyanide”

_“Cyanide?!”_

“You would be amazed at how many foods have naturally occurring cyanide in them. A small amount can give something its flavor, but too much,” she gestured at the nutmeg seeds in the bowl nearby. “Can be poisonous.”

“Wow,” Adrien realized in amazement. “No wonder all of the food I eat seems bland.”

“Excuse me? _All_ of your food is bland?!”

“Dude, seriously?”

“Hey, don't blame me!” The blond exclaimed, bringing his hands up in mock surrender. “Blame my dietitian!” 

_‘Or blame my father,’_ he thought begrudgingly, remembering yesterday's akuma battle and the whole Tabasco fiasco.

“No wonder you had such a strong reaction to that bite from my lunch yesterday,” Marinette surmised with a thoughtful look on her face. “It’s not that you have a low spice tolerance, you just don't have any.”

“Well,” the blond began, rubbing his neck nervously, “I did taste something that I liked last night, but I … don't know the name of it, and I want to try to find it again.”

“So, what? Were you going to taste test all of these herbs and spices to figure out which one you liked?” 

“Yeah… but it may be a little tricky, now that I think about it.”

“And why is that?” Alya asked, cocking her hip with her arms crossed, smelling a scoop (or maybe it was the rosemary, she couldn’t decide).

“Ah, you see, I, uh,” Adrien stammered in a panicked state, not wanting to out his secret identity to his friends by accident. “I, uh, I tasted the thing when I…. when I kissed someone,” he blurted out the last few words in a rush, figuring that was as close to the truth that he could get away with.

“When you kissed someone…,” the Ladyblogger said on a drawl, trailing off as her hazel eyes narrowed at him dangerously.

“Y-yeah… for a photo shoot?” The blond explained, grasping at straws as he tried to come up with a semi-plausible answer. “I think the model I had to kiss had some of it still on her lips somehow?”

“Uh-huh,” said the junior journalist in a voice that conveyed that she was unconvinced before she got a glint in her eye that made Adrien shudder. “Well,” she said as she grabbed her dark-haired best friend by the shoulders and dragged the poor girl to stand in front of her. “I’m volunteering Marinette as tribute!” 

“Alya!” The designer exclaimed in shock, her blue eyes blown wide as her best friend nearly pushed her in front of the model. “I am _so_ going to kill you,” she growled at the auburn-haired girl under her breath. 

“It’s fine, Marinette,” the model said, a slight blush dusting across the bridge of his nose. “Friends can kiss… right?”

_Marinette.exe has stopped responding, please wait for reboot._

“Oh. My. God,” Alya enunciated slowly, her jaw hitting the floor and her hazel eyes wide at the current turn of events.

“Dude, I think you broke Marinette,” Nino joked with an amused look on his face.

Adrien looked over to his best friend inquisitively, confusion being the dominant look in his gemstone green eyes. “What did I do? Will she be okay?”

The DJ just facepalmed in answer, muttering about stereotypical blonds being completely oblivious.

“Sunshine...,” the blogger said, taking the sheltered teen aside for a moment. “Friends… don’t exactly kiss.”

“They don’t?” He asked, his green eyes wide as his blush intensified, now spreading to cover most of his face. 

Pinching the bridge of her nose, the auburn-haired girl clarified, “No, they don’t. Where did you even hear that they did?”

“Anime and manga,” the blond replied innocently with a shrug of his shoulders 

“Figures,” the bespectacled girl muttered before turning to her boyfriend. “Is Marinette back online yet?”

“Nope,” the cap-wearing teen answered with an amused smirk. “She’s still bluescreened.”

“Goddamnit, M,” Alya muttered once more, taking a deep, calming breath. She lifted her head to stare at the ceiling for a moment before stalking over towards her best friend.

“Is she going to be okay?” Adrien asked his best friend quietly, keeping an eye on the Ladyblogger as she did her best to snap the designer out of her stupor. 

“Who? Marinette or Alya?” Nino asked with a snicker.

The teen blinked his glass green eyes in confusion at him. “Both?”

“OW!” Marinette cried out, rubbing at her arm where the junior journalist had more than likely pinched her.

“Yeah, they’ll be okay,” the DJ chortled. 

“Alright,” the auburn-haired girl called out, ignoring the pain that she had caused. “How do we go about doing this? Alphabetical order? Spices first? Herbs first?”

The blond looked back at the heavily laden coffee table with wide eyes, feeling a little overwhelmed. “Umm.”

“W-why don’t we go through and eliminate some things that we know Adrien might have a bad reaction to,” the designer stammered out, still rubbing at the site of Alya’s attack. “Like cayenne pepper or chili flakes.”

“Awww you’re no fun,” Alya said with a pout as she began to grab a few of the small bowls to remove them from the rest of the spread, earning a glare from both the model and her boyfriend.

“I’m beginning to regret having you over here,” the DJ muttered to himself, placing his palm over his face in exasperation.

The blogger looked over to him, her eyes narrowing dangerously. “What was that?”

“Nothing, dear.”

Adrien moved towards the dark-haired girl, close enough that he could murmur in her ear without being heard. “Thank you,” he said in a grateful voice.

She jumped a little at that, disturbing the bowl of black pepper in her hand and causing her to sneeze. Marinette hadn’t expected him to get so close to her. Turning towards him, she said, “Of course! Having gone through that ordeal twi- er, once was enough, was it?” She asked, moving away from him to place the bowl in her hand on his desk, away from the cacophony of the other herbs and spices.

She fervently hoped that he didn't catch her slip up, but then again, she did give him permission to find her.

She just hoped that he would wait until they were alone to confront her on it.

He was a little distracted by how cute her sneeze was that he nearly missed her catching herself on her words. But as the words that she said began to penetrate his brain, Adrien’s gemstone eyes nearly popped out of his head.

Did she almost say the word _twice_?!

Meanwhile, Marinette tapped a finger to her lips in thought as she surveyed what was left on the coffee table.

“Is there anything on here that looks interesting to you, Adrien?” She asked, turning and looking up at him from under her long, inky eyelashes. 

The blond was still in mid-freak out when the designer had asked her question, so the nudge in his side from Nino came as a bit of a shock.

“Dude, Marinette asked you a question,” he pointed out, his face still holding an amused look.

“Oh! Uh, sorry Marinette,” the model apologized sheepishly, bringing his hand up to the back of his neck to rub at it nervously. “Uh, what was it that you asked again?”

She gave him a smile, taking in his familiar ticks that betrayed his anxiety. _‘Yep,’_ she thought with an internal sigh. _‘Looks like kitty might be connecting the spots.’_

“I asked if anything looked interesting for you to try,” she explained with a gesture, bringing his attention back to the matter at hand.

“Oh… right, uh… what’s this?” Adrien asked anxiously as he grabbed one particularly fragrant bowl, holding it up to her in his hand. The spice held within looked like yellow powder, and it gave off a warm, earthy smell with a bit of a bite to it.

The question of how did Marinette know that he had two reactions within the span of an hour yesterday was still taking up the majority of his brain cells, that he almost came too close to her face with the hard piece of ceramic in his hands.

“Too close!” She called out, narrowly avoiding colliding with the object in his hand. The spice held within the structure had no qualms about going up her nose though, causing the dark-haired girl to sneeze again.

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry, Marinette! I don’t know what is wrong with me today!” Her would-be assailant exclaimed as he pulled the bowl back away from her face. He was ashamed of himself for being a spaz around his very good friend, yet charmed once more by her adorable sneeze.

Both of them pointedly ignored the snickering laughter of their respective best friends.

“Um, that’s turmeric,” Marinette said in a calm voice, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart at the blond’s close proximity. “You might not like it, as it's a bit bitter and rather earthy,” she explained with a look of disgust that he thought was rather cute, causing him to blush. “It goes great in soups, though.”

He made a face at the spice before quickly setting it down with the other rejected bowls on his desk. “You’re right, I probably won’t like it,” he agreed dejectedly, eying the rest of his options. There were just so many herbs and spices, how was he going to find the right one?

The gentle hand on his shoulder startled him out of his spiraling thoughts long enough for him to look over at it. “Maybe we’re going about this the wrong way?” The teen designer suggested, looking up at his peridot green eyes with her ocean-colored irises. “Do you remember anything about what the flavor tasted like?”

Adrien furrowed his brow and closed his eyes as he tried to remember back to that moment in the secluded hallway. His memory of soft lips pressing against his was pretty potent, but there was a hint of… something….

“Something… sweet? A little peppery, and maybe a little… mint-like?” He opened his eyes and looked down at her gemstone gaze with some frustration in his eyes. “It’s… kind of hard to describe….” 

But Marinette’s gaze sharpened as she looked at the table in front of them, singling out a particular green herb from the rest of the mess. She moved away from the model to snag three large leaves from the fragrant bundle, rolling them up and popping them into her mouth to chew on them.

Everyone looked at her in puzzlement as she chewed, but she only held her hand up in a “please wait” gesture.

She swallowed then looked towards the blond, anxiety thrumming through her as she fought hard to look him in the eye.

“Y-you said that you tasted it when y-you k-kissed her, r-right?” She stammered out, her cheeks darkening into a pretty rouge color that the model couldn't seem to take his eyes off of.

“Y-yeah, I mean, yes, I did,” he answered, his words stumbling out of him in disbelief as he stared numbly at her, making her fidget.

“W-well...,” she said, shrugging her shoulder nervously, realizing that she was really doing this.

She was asking Adrien Agreste to kiss her.

His green eyes practically bugged out of his head at her implication, while his and their best friends’ jaws simultaneously decided to drop to the floor. 

Shaking his head once to get himself back to the present, Adrien decided to move closer towards his midnight-haired friend. Taking her small hand into his much larger one, he looked down at her and asked, “Really? Marinette… are you sure?”

The young Guardian looked up into his tsavorite stare with a nervous smile and simply nodded her assent.

He leaned down towards her slowly, allowing her time to back away if she wanted to. When he got close enough to feel her breath on his face, he whispered quietly, “Then, with your permission….”

“Just shut up and kiss me, kitty,” she breathed back at him, tilting her head and standing on her tiptoes to capture his lips with hers.

The sudden use of his nickname caused his eyes to go wide with shock as the realization that he had found his Lady had sunk in. Then, they lowered as the feel of her lips against his made him want to purr in pleasure. He tilted his head to deepen the kiss, only to be shocked back into the present by the whoop of glee coming from the pair of friends behind him.

The pair of secret heroes parted after that to shoot a glare at the Ladyblogger and the DJ, the former unabashedly giddy that one of her favorite ships just might be sailing.

“Sorry, Dude. Somebody over here got excited,” Nino said as he elbowed his girlfriend to quiet down. “But was that the flavor that you were looking for?”

Adrien turned back to Marinette, a knowing look and a bit of a Chat Noir smirk starting to spread across his face.

“Maybe,” he said to his cap-wearing friend. “But I’m not sure if I had gotten a good enough taste. Would you agree, Marinette?”

To her credit, the aspiring designer only gave a small shrug as she moved her free hand to his shoulder. “Better make sure then, Agreste,” she said as she pulled him in for another smooch.

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Spoiler Alert: it was basil that she ate.
> 
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